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IRRIGATION |
Making your irrigation system work for you
A routine review of your irrigation system can help you determine if it’s working properly and meeting your needs.
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| A visual evaluation should be the first step in assessing an irrigation system. Photos courtesy of Rick Slattery |
While working on golf courses for the past 35 years, I have observed an array of irrigation systems at a variety of golf clubs. Evaluating your irrigation system is, simply stated, trying to get the most out of whatever you have to work with. As determined as the irrigation industry might be, an irrigation system has not been devised that delivers perfect uniformity — and perhaps that’s not the solution anyway. Will we ever be able to duplicate rainfall? Probably not. Therefore, there is always room for improvement, no matter what type of irrigation system and no matter what its age.
Back to the basics
I always tell turfgrass interns that the best way to learn about irrigation systems and watering is with a system that is 100 percent manual, but, unfortunately, not many manual systems are in use today. Until you’ve spent your evenings riding in a golf car moving sprinklers by moonlight, you can’t truly appreciate how to water a golf course. Naturally, the effort involved makes you think of ways to be more efficient.
Golf courses with manual systems tend to promote turf that is less reliant on water in general. Wilt doesn’t progress to death within a few short minutes. Wilt is a sign that you may have to water within the next 24 hours if rain isn’t forecast. Manual irrigation fosters lean irrigation practices just because of the sheer difficulty of delivering water to the golf course. With a manual system, a few purple spots in a fairway in the middle of the afternoon don’t provide enough motivation to prime the pump, charge up the pressure in the pipes and manually start moving sprinklers. You come to realize that turfgrass will adapt to lean conditions by becoming stronger and growing a better root system.
Some of the best seasons I’ve enjoyed on the golf course immediately followed a season of drought when the turf had been stressed by the lack of rainfall. I believe that automatic systems, which require only a push of a button to irrigate the golf course, have led to overwatered courses, weaker turf and more Poa annua.
Assess your needs
It’s difficult to evaluate your irrigation system without also evaluating your turfgrass maintenance programs. Manual systems were prominent until the 1970s and ’80s when automatic systems began to replace them. These years also mark the beginning of rising golfer expectations. Purple wilted spots became unacceptable, and “green at all costs” became the mantra. The long-term result was softer playing surfaces and weaker turf that required more water and pesticides to survive. The softer playing surfaces also affected golf course architecture, and golf in the United States evolved into the aerial game that it is today, quite unlike the ground game on which golf was founded.
The goal of irrigation system evaluation is to apply less water but still have happy golfers. Less water will mean healthier turf and firmer playability and help the course comply with water conservation efforts and regulations. Turf that is less reliant on water is also less stressful to manage, which allows superintendents to go home without worrying as much about losing turf to wilt.
It is safe to say that managing golfer expectations is one of the biggest communication tasks superintendents face. Having a bigger budget doesn’t necessarily help with this issue because more money breeds even higher expectations. However, it would be difficult to evaluate an irrigation system without also attempting to identify the owner’s or the membership’s expectations for the golf course. Is the course a private course hosting a major tournament in three years? Or is the course run by a single owner who is focused on the profit margin and wants the course to look appealing but isn’t concerned about playability?
Evaluating your system will supply you with the facts and figures needed to communicate to your owners the limitations of the course’s irrigation system and how it affects the management of the course. The idea is to learn all that you can about your system, and that responsibility shouldn’t be delegated.
Evaluating your irrigation system
Whatever type of irrigation system you have, it’s essential to be proactive and continually search for ways to improve it. Don’t assume that everything is always operating in tiptop shape.
Look at the sprinklers and the irrigated area
The simplest way to evaluate your system is to observe the sprinklers when they are operating and to scout the playing areas for weak turf that might be caused by a malfunctioning sprinkler or poor coverage. Consider the following questions.
- How do the sprinklers look when they are running?
- Does the operating pressure seem adequate?
- Are they rotating properly?
- Are they reaching as far as they should?
- Does the overlap look correct?
If you water exclusively in the evenings, then a syringe cycle in the middle of the day can help with a visual check, but time should be set aside to visually assess your irrigation system on a regular basis.
Evaluate the mechanics of the irrigation system
Determine whether the irrigation system is operating to its fullest potential. Much can be accomplished with regular routine maintenance and small projects. Once you have checked the system, address the weakest link.
The pump station is the heart of your system. Do the pumps work efficiently, producing the flow and pressure they are rated for? If not, they may need to be rebuilt or replaced.
Was the system installed correctly? A catch-can test will provide sound data on the performance of your system out in the field. The first time I completed a catch-can test, it revealed that I not only had coverage problems between sprinklers, but also poor water distribution around the sprinkler itself. A nozzle change improved the uniformity around the sprinkler. However, incorrect spacing of the sprinklers during installation and undersized lateral piping were causing the coverage problems. Again, put all assumptions aside — what was designed and what is on the course are often not the same.
Don’t overlook easy solutions to the problems you identify. At one golf course, we solved inconsistent pressure problems with the sprinklers after we determined that debris in the water source had plugged the sprinkler screens.
Increase coverage
If necessary, add more sprinklers and more stations to improve or expand coverage. A few years ago, I installed 180-degree sprinklers around greens to provide better control when irrigating the greens and the surrounding areas. No matter what type of irrigation system you have, quick couplers can always be added.
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| Hand watering isolated dry spots will help maintain uniformity. |
When all else fails, rely on hand watering when the areas that don’t get an adequate amount of water from the irrigation system begin to show stress.
Improve your system
Some basic principles of irrigation haven’t changed. Using the appropriate nozzles was and still is the most effective way to improve your system.
When I worked at golf courses with manual systems, we changed nozzles to improve uniformity of distribution and overcome low-pressure problems. Using a manual system is started by first installing the number of sprinklers that the output of the pumps can handle. The threshold for the number of sprinklers operating at one time was determined with “local” knowledge about the elevations involved, distance from the pumps and pipe sizing. Manually watering doesn’t permit the luxury of adjusting run times, so we made changes in nozzle sizes instead.
A cycle was how long it would take to tour the golf course to move the sprinklers, usually about 45 minutes. To improve uniformity, we installed different-sized nozzles in different sprinklers and then color-coded them so they could be recognized quickly in the dark. Big nozzles were put in dry areas, and smaller nozzles would be placed in wetter areas. This way, we were able to create better uniformity, which resulted in healthier turf and better playability. Although this method may seem archaic when compared to modern, automatic systems, using the proper nozzles remains one of the best ways to improve the performance of an irrigation system.
Mother Nature
Because watering with a manual system was so difficult, we would always watch the weather intently for indications that it might rain so we could postpone our nightly regimen. Automatic systems should not change that perspective. On-site weather stations and meteorology services are tremendous resources for providing real-time information. I always study past weather data and weather forecasts before making daily decisions about irrigating. I calculate how many gallons of water it takes for me to apply 1⁄4 inch of water and then use the sum of rainfall and irrigation to reach my desired total for the week or month. An irrigation system should only be used to supplement rainfall, never to replace it. I water sparingly between rainstorms not only for healthier turf, but also for improved playability. A dry golf course will absorb and use rainfall while remaining playable; a saturated golf course will only get wetter.
Wetting agents
Wetting agents mask the dry areas caused by coverage problems and allow the golf course to look better with less water. Wetting agents have come a long way from the days when we had to worry about phytotoxicity. When I reintroduced wetting agents into my management programs in 1997, I was able to reduce the amount of irrigation water by 35 percent per year without reducing the course’s aesthetic appeal.
There is no doubt that wetting agents improve uniformity. Wetting agents are even more important for golf courses with antiquated systems or small budgets because they allow those golf courses to look much better under austere irrigation programs. In the future, wetting agents will continue to play a significant role in water management by helping to reduce our dependence on this dwindling resource.
Solid proof
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is very true when evaluating your irrigation system. About 10 years ago I stumbled upon aerial infrared photography as an ideal way to visually see the coverage problems with an irrigation system. To obtain the most distinctive photos, schedule them at a time when you can dry the golf course out, stop all hand watering, and use the irrigation system a minimal amount. The colorization of infrared photos shows water as black, wet spots as bright red and dry areas as a tan or bleached-out color. Good uniformity shows up as a consistent pink color. The photos can provide solid proof that coverage problems exist.
During a recent educational membership forum at my facility, a gentleman stood up and said, “We were told when the existing system was installed that it was good enough to replace rainfall.” In response, I was able to point to the infrared photos and confidently say that the photos prove the current system doesn’t duplicate the coverage of rainfall. Those photos have been crucial to me in educating the membership so that I can better manage their expectations while explaining how the limitations of the system affect playability and justify the need for improvements.
Outside opinions
Whether it’s the USGA Green Section or a professional consultant, having someone else evaluate your system always provides useful information. A consultant is not only a resource for ways to improve your irrigation system, but also a good resource to use when you are educating the patrons of your course on the system’s limitations. Many times members or owners will listen more intently to a third party because their opinions are considered unbiased. Let’s face it: most superintendents don’t have premium irrigation systems. Most have to work with the hand that is dealt them, and they can use all the help they can get.
Water is a precious, finite resource that must be conserved. Recreational water use will be confronted with increasing regulations in the years to come. In the future, properly managed irrigation systems will be one of the principal tools that we use to get more with less.
Leo Feser Award candidate This article is eligible for the 2005 Leo Feser Award, presented annually since 1977 to the author of the best superintendent-written article published in Golf Course Management magazine during the previous year. Superintendents receive a $300 stipend for articles. Feser Award winners receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Golf Industry Show, where they are recognized. They also have their names engraved on a plaque permanently displayed at GCSAA headquarters. |
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